From School Library Journal
YA-Set just prior to Dragonflight, Masterharper details the life, loves, and heartbreaks of Robinton, Pern's most beloved harper. Readers follow him through a childhood filled with rejection and neglect by his Mastercomposer father, the loss of his wife, the death of his best friend, to his becoming Masterharper of Pern. This is McCaffrey at her best, combining excellent writing with vivid settings and detailed, fully fleshed-out characters. The book would be best read after Dragonflight (1986) and Dragonquest (1979, both Ballantine), but can stand alone.John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Hill's reading of The Masterharper of Pern, a Dragonriders of Pern novel, presents an intimate account. Hill recounts this tale of dragons and harpers as if he knows and has lived with its characters and events. J.E.M. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
McCaffrey's latest rummage through the archives of planet Pern (Dragonseye, 1997, etc.) has unearthed Robinton, the Masterharper of Pern, and the circumstances surrounding the advent of weyrleader F'lar and Lessa, the first woman Dragonrider. It's a time when no Thread has fallen for centuries (it's due in 50 years or so), and five of the six weyrs stand inexplicably empty of Dragons and Riders. Young Rob, rejected by his father, is a musical prodigy and has the ability to speak telepathically with dragons. As Rob's musical and diplomatic skills grow, he becomes friendly with Dragonrider F'lon and also earns the enmity of Fax, a holder who refuses to allow his people to be educated (the traditional role of the Harpers). Rob marries, but his wife dies of a fever; F'lon's wife dies in childbirth; Fax, meanwhile, by force and trickery dominates the north and threatens the very basis of Pern society. Then, after F'lon is killed in a contrived duel, Fax invades Ruatha Hold, and now Rob must enlist the aid of F'lon's son F'lar to defeat Fax. Covers well-trodden ground in more detail than hitherto; presumably, most dragonfans will find it satisfying enough. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description

In a time when the deadly scourge Thread has not fallen on Pern for centuries--and many dare to hope that Thread will never fall again--a boy is born to Harper Hall. A musical prodigy who has the ability to speak with the dragons, he is called Robinton, and he is destined to be one of the most famous and beloved leaders Pern has ever known.It is a perilous time for the harpers who sing of Thread--they are being turned away from holds, derided, attacked, even beaten. In this climate of unrest, Robinton will come into his own. But despite the tragedies that beset his own life, he continues to believe in music and in the dragons, and he is determined to save his beloved Pern from itself--so that the dragonriders can be ready to fly against the dreaded Thread when at last it returns . . .



From the Publisher
It's been a long time since I read my first Dragonriders of Pern novel, but the character of Robinton has always stuck in my head, even back when the story seemed to be about Lessa and F'lar and the rest of the dragonriders. In the early books, Robinton was just this wise old guy who liked good wine and good music. And yet Lessa was so fond of him, I couldn't avoid being drawn to him myself. When the author killed him off in a later book, I cried. I cried when I first read the manuscript, and I cried again when I read the revised manuscript. So I began thinking how much this character needed a book of his own. Fortunately, Anne McCaffrey was having the same thoughts-- The result is The MasterHarper of Pern, the life story of Master Robinton, the musician who could talk to dragons.
                                                                --Shelly Shapiro, Executive Editor


From the Inside Flap
In a time when the deadly scourge Thread has not fallen on Pern for centuries--and many dare to hope that Thread will never fall again--a boy is born to Harper Hall. A musical prodigy who has the ability to speak with the dragons, he is called Robinton, and he is destined to be one of the most famous and beloved leaders Pern has ever known.

It is a perilous time for the harpers who sing of Thread--they are being turned away from holds, derided, attacked, even beaten. In this climate of unrest, Robinton will come into his own. But despite the tragedies that beset his own life, he continues to believe in music and in the dragons, and he is determined to save his beloved Pern from itself--so that the dragonriders can be ready to fly against the dreaded Thread when at last it returns . . .


About the Author
Anne McCaffrey is one of the world's most popular authors. Her first novel was published in l967. Since then, she has written dozens of books, of which there are more than twelve million copies in print. Before her success as a writer, she was involved in theater. She directed the American premiere of Carl Orff's Ludus de Nato Infante Mirificus in which she also played a witch.

McCaffrey lives in County Wicklow, Ireland, in a house of her own design, Dragonhold-Underhill, so named because she had to dig out a hill to build it.


Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
His parents were busy packing for their trip to Nerat, so Robinton had been told to go outside and play. He always missed his mother, but it would be nice to stay with Kubisa and Lina, where he could sing and play his pipe or his drum without worrying about annoying his father. Now it was his turn to hop-it without smudging the chalk lines on the flags, and his attention was utterly focused on the movement of his feet--until Libby made him miss the longest hop by suddenly pointing skyward in astonishment.

"Oh, look, Robie!" she cried.

"That's not fair..."

His complaint died as he realized that the dragons soaring above were coming closer to the Harper Hall, rather than the Hold, where they usually landed. Half a wing of dragons--six of them. As they swept closer, backwinging, their hind legs stretching downward to land in the Harper Hall quadrangle, Robie, Libby, and Lexey pressed themselves tightly against the wall to stay out of the way. As it was, two of the dragons had to land outside, since the first four made the big quadrangle suddenly appear very small.

The ridged tail of a bronze was so close to Robie he could reach out and touch it. Which he did, greatly daring, while Lexey regarded him with staring eyes, aghast at his impudence.

"You'll get left out for Thread for sure, Robie," Lexey whispered hoarsely, pressing his sturdy body as close to the stone wall as he could, well away from the dragon's tail.

"He's soft," Robie whispered back, surprised. Runner beasts were soft, as were the spit canines, but watchwhers had hard hides, sort of oily. At least the Harper Hall's ol' Nick did. Were watchwhers another kind of dragon, the way runner beasts were another kind of herd beast?

No, they are most certainly not, a voice said in his mind. The dragon turned his huge head to see who had touched him, causing Lexey to hiss in alarm and Libby to whimper a bit in terror. Very different from dragons entirely, the voice went on.

"I do apologize. I didn't mean to insult you, bronze dragon," Robie said, giving a jerky little bow. "I've never seen one of you up close before."

We do not come as often to the Harper Hall as we used to.  It had to be the dragon speaking, Robie decided, because the deep voice couldn't have come from anybody else nearby. The rider had dismounted and was standing on the steps talking to his mother and father.


"Are my mother and father going to ride on you to Nerat?" Robie knew that was why the dragons had come, to take all the harpers to Nerat for the espousal. His mother had told him that. Nerat Hold tithed to Benden Weyr, and so in turn could ask the Weyrleader to provide dragon transport. Going a-dragonback meant they wouldn't have a long land journey to make, so they wouldn't be away long. And besides, it was a great honor to go a-dragonback.

They are Harpers? the dragon asked.

"Yes, my mother's MasterSinger Merelan and my father is now Master Petiron. He writes the music they're going to sing."

We look forward to hearing it.

"I didn't know dragons liked music," Robie said, greatly surprised. That had never been mentioned with all the other things he'd learned about dragonkind.

Well, we do. So does my rider, M'ridin. Robie's sensitive ears caught the affection with which the dragon named his rider. He asked especially to convey your mother and father. It will be an honor for us to take a MasterSinger to Nerat.

"Who are you talking to?" Libby asked, her eyes still wide with fright for Robie's presumptuous behavior toward the huge and powerful creature.

"The dragon, a' course," Robie said, having no real sense of doing something unusual. "You'll be careful with them, won't you, dragon?"

Of course!

Robie was certain the dragon was laughing inside. "What's so funny?"

I have a name, you know.

"Oh, I know that all the dragons have names, but I've only just met you so I don't know your name." Robie turned his head ever so slightly to be sure his friends were observing how brave he was. And courteous.

Cortath is my name. What is yours, little one?

"Robie...that is, Robinton, and you will fly my parents very carefully, won't you?"

Of course I will, young Robinton.

Greatly reassured by that, Robie took advantage of this unparalleled opportunity and asked, "Will you be fighting Thread when it comes back?"

The tail gave such a convulsive twitch that it nearly swept both Lexey and Robinton, who were nearest, off their feet. The dragon swerved his body around so that his great head, with its many faceted eyes swirling with a variety of colors rapidly turning into orange and red, came closer to Robie.

Dragons alwaysfly when Thread is in the sky, was the unequivocal answer.

"You know the song, then?" Robie asked, delighted.

But, before Cortath could answer, his rider was at his head, turning it back so that he could introduce the bronze to Merelan and Petiron

"Robinton, what are you doing back there?" his father demanded, noticing him at last and gesturing
for him to get out of the way.

"We were just playing hop-it, only
Cortath landed in the middle..." At the boy's words, the great dragon
courteously moved his feet. "It's all right, Cortath, you smudged the lines a bit with your tail but we can fix it when you leave."


"Robinton!" his father roared, scowling his amazement. Robinton risked a nervous glance at his mother and saw her slight smile. Why was his father angry with him? He really hadn't been doing anything wrong, had he?


"Cortath says he's enjoyed conversing with your son, Master Petiron," M'ridin said with a reassuring chuckle. "There aren't that many children these days who will, you know."

Robinton's sensitive ears caught the plaintive note in the tall, bronze rider's voice. He opened his mouth to say that he'd be happy to talk to Cortath any time, when he saw his mother raise her finger in her signal for him to be silent and noticed the deepening scowl on his father's face. So he looked anywhere but at the adults.

"Out of the way now, boy," his father said, gesturing urgently.

Robinton scooted off toward the hall, Libby and Lexey well in front of him, all too relieved to be allowed to leave.

"Goodbye, Cortath," Robinton said. Seeing the dragon turn his head to follow him, he waved his fingers in farewell.

We will meet again, young Robinton, Cortath said clearly.

"Shards, Rob, you were lucky," Lexey said enviously.

"And brave," Libby put in, her blue eyes still as wide as saucers in her freckled face.

Robie shrugged. He was probably lucky he hadn't been close enough to his father for a smack at bothering a dragon, but he didn't think he'd been particularly brave. Though he should not, perhaps, have compared a dragon to a watchwher! He'd caught the insulted note in the dragon's voice, and he guessed he was lucky Cortath had deigned to speak with him, instead of just lashing out with his tail at the presumptuous boy.

"Did you hear what Cortath told me?" he asked his friends.

"They're leaving," Lexey said, pointing as the dragons suddenly leaped skyward. As the great wings swirled up dust and grit from the courtyard, the children hastily turned away to protect their faces. When they turned back, rubbing dirt from their eyes, the dragons had already risen above the high, pitched roof of the quadrangle. Robinton waved frantically, recognizing Cortath's bright bronze coat and his passengers, but he didn't think even his mother was looking down just then. The next moment, all had disappeared and the courtyard looked emptier than ever. He felt oddly sad that the dragon had gone--as if he had missed something very important but didn't know what it was. He realized that he didn't really want to know if his friends had heard the dragon, too. After all, he had been the one who had done the talking, so it was his special encounter. He was not covetous by nature, but some things you kept to yourself, because they were yours, your doing, and should be savor
ed quietly.

ANNOTATION

At last--an all new epic Anne McCaffrey novel set in a brave new world. Kristin Bjorsen is a human slave to the overlords called Catteni, who have made the races of many planets bend to their will. But now Kristin has become part of a tremendous alien experiment--one that gives her back her freedom, though not in a way she might have chosen.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In a time when the deadly scourge Thread has not fallen on Pern for centuries—and many dare to hope that Thread will never fall again—a boy is born to Harper Hall. A musical prodigy who has the ability to speak with the dragons, he is called Robinton, and he is destined to be one of the most famous and beloved leaders Pern has ever known.

It is a perilous time for the harpers who sing of Thread—they are being turned away from holds, derided, attacked, even beaten. In this climate of unrest, Robinton will come into his own. But despite the tragedies that beset his own life, he continues to believe in music and in the dragons, and he is determined to save his beloved Pern from itself—so that the dragonriders can be ready to fly against the dreaded Thread when at last it returns . . .

SYNOPSIS

In a time when the deadly scourge Thread has not fallen on Pern for centuries--and many dare to hope that Thread will never fall again--a boy is born to Harper Hall. A musical prodigy who has the ability to speak with the dragons, he is called Robinton, and he is destined to be one of the most famous and beloved leaders Pern has ever known.

It is a perilous time for the harpers who sing of Thread--they are being turned away from holds, derided, attacked, even beaten. In this climate of unrest, Robinton will come into his own. But despite the tragedies that beset his own life, he continues to believe in music and in the dragons, and he is determined to save his beloved Pern from itself--so that the dragonriders can be ready to fly against the dreaded Thread when at last it returns . . .

FROM THE CRITICS

VOYA - Amanda Lenhart

Fantasy writer extraordinaire Anne McCaffrey has just released the latest installment in her much loved Pern series. The Masterharper of Pern chronicles the life of Robinton, the Masterharper who played a prominent role in the Pern trilogy of Dragonsong (Atheneum, 1976), Dragonsinger (Atheneum, 1977), and Dragondrums (Atheneum, 1979). We follow Rob from his first cries of life through the joys, tragedies, and blossoming musical genius of his young adulthood on into his maturation into a masterful statesman as well as inspired musician. Readers already familiar with the Pern series and McCaffrey's work will soon find themselves engrossed in Rob's struggles. Young adults may particularly identify with his problems earning acceptance from his father, his first attempts at love, and his conflict over his life's calling-should he follow his musical talents into harperizing or utilize his ability to talk to dragons as a dragonrider? The book also subtly handles issues of justice and fairness as we walk with Robinton through his early attempts at mediation and leadership roles. However, this reader wishes McCaffrey had drawn a little more nuance into her harsh characterization of Rob's father, Petiron, who in previous books had been cast as a sympathetic character. While not McCaffrey's best effort, Masterharper displays her traditional, accessible style. Young adults already familiar with McCaffrey's work will be lining up to read this next, fill-in-the-gaps tale of life on Pern. Those who have not read her other work will enjoy this one more if it is not their entry point into the series. Ideally, it should be read after the Dragonsong trilogy, though any of McCaffrey's early Pern books like Dragonflight (Ballantine, 1968) or Dragonquest (Ballantine, 1971) will work as well. Most of all, this book is fun. It is an enveloping work that transports the reader to another place without numbing the mind with formulaic, hacked-out prose. VOYA Codes: 3Q 4P M J S (Readable without serious defects, Broad general YA appeal, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9 and Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).

School Library Journal

YA-Set just prior to Dragonflight, Masterharper details the life, loves, and heartbreaks of Robinton, Pern's most beloved harper. Readers follow him through a childhood filled with rejection and neglect by his Mastercomposer father, the loss of his wife, the death of his best friend, to his becoming Masterharper of Pern. This is McCaffrey at her best, combining excellent writing with vivid settings and detailed, fully fleshed-out characters. The book would be best read after Dragonflight (1986) and Dragonquest (1979, both Ballantine), but can stand alone.-John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

AudioFile - Joyce E. McCarty

Hill's reading of The Masterharper of Pern, a Dragonriders of Pern novel, presents an intimate account. Hill recounts this tale of dragons and harpers as if he knows and has lived with its characters and events. J.E.M. ￯﾿ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Sequel to Freedom's Landing (1995), chunk two of McCaffrey's latest interstellar saga. Following the invasion of Earth by humanoid alien Catteni, a group of human survivors and rebels—including Earth girl Kris Bjornsen and her aristocratic, renegade Catteni lover, Zainal—has been dumped on planet Botany, a farm world run by machines. The parasitic Eosi rule the Catteni as overlords by commandeering suitable Catteni bodies, though so far Zainal has avoided his own nemesis, the Ix Mentat. Kris, Zainal, and the colony's military bigwigs capture several Catteni spacecraft before Botany's absentee landlords, the Farmers, show up. Highly advanced, telepathic shapeshifters, the Farmers deplore interspecies conflict but decline to intervene; they do, however, screen Botany from Catteni spacecraft. Zainal leads a raid on planet Barevi to pick up goods looted from Earth, and learns that the Ix Mentat, infuriated by the Farmers' effortless superiority in denying the Catteni access to Botany, has used brain-burning mind probes on captured humans in the vain hope of discovering useful new technologies.

McCaffrey helpfully recaps the previous book's events; overall, series fans will be delighted, although they'll know how this one ends: It doesn't.